Dapp In Review – Slap Your App Together In A Snap!

With all the apps that I’ve used and/or reviewed, it’s given me a bit of an itch to try my hands at designing one myself. One major thing that has been holding me back is just figuring out where and how to start. Luckily for me (and those in the same boat) developers Froggie have put together Dapp. Described as a “rapid application development tool”, Dapp will help you design your vision as well as generate actual iPhone code from your mock ups.

Now when i first heard about DAPP I was extremely curious. A tool that could help anyone design their own app seemed like the perfect addition to the App Store. Although the task of designing and building an app may seem complicated, thanks to Dapp it is definitely a lot less painless.

Using the app is really a lot more straightforward that I thought it would be. On launch you have options to go to “Designs or “Settings”. Inside settings you have a spot to enter the default info that will be used in your apps. The “Design” area is exactly that. Here you will build and edit your projects. From the main screen you either select a previous project or add a new one.

After giving your project a name you are taken to the main page of your app. Here you will add pages and items to your vision. Adding different elements to your design is extremely easy. From within each “page” you simply hit edit and all the available design items (of which there are a lot!) are shown and can then be selected to add to your page. Once you have chosen your item you can move, resize or even customize that item quite extensively. There are no limits to how many things you can add or where to put them. The only limit here is your own imagination.

Now to be able to move and tweak everything around, you’ll want to hit “view mode” from the main list of objects. This will bring up a mock screen that allows you to move objects around and ensure everything is the way you want it to be. To edit or add an element just double tap the screen to bring up your menu. Once you’re satisfied with your project, the next thing you’ll want to do is either get that design to someone to have it fully developed OR better yet, start building it yourself.

From both the main page (where your pages are listed) or individual pages (where your page objects are listed) you have the ability to export what you’ve done into either a PDF file or actual code. The PDF option is great for sending the design to someone who is building the app for you. It’s also a great way for printing the design out as the exported PDF has room for notes and sketches that you may think of at a later time. For those more daring, the code option provides you with some of the core files you’ll need to turn your app into reality.

Now before you jump right in, I would recommend you go through the tutorials offered on the developers website. Even though Dapp does make the process a little easier, it can get quite tricky once you move to actually building the app. Another thing to note is that at this point, the transition from iPhone to Xcode (your app building platform) isn’t quite seamless. There are a few key steps you need to take to ensure the project is done correctly. Although this can be a bit of a pain for some of you out there, the devs are working on trying to make that transition as smooth as possible.

So after all is said and done I really have to hand it to Froggie. DAPP is a great tool for both new and existing developers. It’s super easy to use and has a ton of options when it comes to customization. It’s not perfect yet (transition to Xcode still needs some work), but it’s still surprising how much a new iPhone developer can achieve with the app.Â I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in starting to design or build apps, as well as existing developers looking for a tool to use while on the go. And for the iPad users out there who wish to take advantage of the extra real estate, Froggie will be releasing iPad HD in the very near future.